Page:Thomas Hare - The Election of Representatives, parliamentary and municipal.djvu/344



It is either in republican countries, or in states in which efforts, more or less earnest, are made to carry out the principles of national self-government in their integrity, that the system of proportional and preferential representation has been most enthusiastically received. In no nation has the labour of propagating a knowledge of the method, and of the results which may reasonably be expected horn it, been more vigorously and intelligently undertaken and pursued than in Switzerland. The Association Réformiste, devoted to this object, was inaugurated in 1865, with an address from M. Ernest Naville. This wag followed by several productions by the same eminent writer, by MM. Roget and Morin, and by the establishment of a journal 'The Réformiste,' especially directed to the purpose of making known and advocating a just election system. This journal continued in circulation until shortly before the commencement of the late Continental war, when most domestic discussions were for the time absorbed, and the journal was merged in the 'Indépendence Suisse.' A collected statement of the proceedings of the Sociely was published in the last year, from which the progress of thought on this subject nearly in every part of Europe and America will be gathered. An extract from the 'Réformiste' of the 4th of May, 1869, reviewing the results of the general election of this kingdom in 1868, concludes with the following warning, "pour les hommes qui veulent s'instruire à la grande école de l'expérience."

1°. La lutte exclusive de deux partis, qui résulte forcément du principe des majorités, fausse la représentation du peuple anglais, et ne permet pas aux divers éléments de la vie nationale de se manifester.

2° La mesure adoptée pour la représentation des minorités (dont on ne saurait trop louer l'intention) est en elle-même un palliatif insuffisant qui ne saurait tener lieu d'une vraie réforme, même dans le cas où la mesure serait généralisée.

3° Si l'Angleterre n'adopte pas et ne réalise pas sérieusement le principe de la représentation vraie, elle dérivera de plus en plus vers les écueuils trop connus de cette fausse démocratie qui abaisse les parlements et les peuples.

The Report presented by M. Ernest Naville to the Association Ré-